Kris Plachy: Welcome to season three of the Leadership is Feminine podcast. I’m Kris Plachy, and I’m so happy that you’re here. In this season, we’re doing something different. One of the things that I believe to be true is that there is so much unsourced, beautiful wisdom in the everyday person. I really like to talk about what I call “obscure wisdom.” That means these are things that people know that unless we meet them at a cocktail party, or at a barbecue or sitting next to them on a train, we don’t hear about it.

And these aren’t celebrities, these aren’t people who’ve written bestselling books, yet. These aren’t people that are on the circuit that everybody else is learning from. These are every day women who are CEOs, building, dealing with, working through all the pieces and parts of running a company. And I want to bring my beautiful clients and their wisdom to your ears. Because I know that you’ll find it to be validating and insightful, and hopefully also some fun. So, without further ado, let’s get started with this week’s amazing personal client, and guest on Leadership is Feminine.

Hello, everybody. Welcome. Welcome. I’m so excited. This week on the podcast, we have Erica Tingey, who is a client of mine, who runs an absolutely gorgeous business. And you know, I know that I say this a lot on this podcast and I say this to my clients, but I’m always so impressed with all the ways that people can make money and support what it is they do in the world. So, Erica, I’m so glad that you’re here. And I would love for you to take a couple minutes and help everybody know who you are and what you do in the world.

Erica Tingey: Yes, thank you. Hi. So, I am a mountain bike skills coach. So, it started back 12 years ago. I started racing my mountain bike professionally when my son was just under two years old. So I was already a mother and I didn’t really think that I had anything else to offer the world. I just thought my life was over. I had a baby, and that was it. And then I started racing my bike. I mean, I had been an athlete my whole life.

Anyway, I started racing. And I moved up the ranks very quickly. I was a very natural athlete, and had an entire career that was amazing. I went all around the world and raced at the elite level, which is the top level. And throughout my career, I was always very, very fit. Fitness was very easy for me. It just, genetically I’m very fit. My skills do not come naturally. That was always the hardest part for me. Like, my first-year racing, I could see like I could catch everyone on the climb. And on the decent, I would struggle and like get behind and I’d have to catch them on the climb. And so I got some skills coaching. And it immediately lit a fire in me. I was like, “Wait, what? You can get better at this thing, at this part?” And so I actually went home and started holding my own little clinics right after I had been coached, which is so funny. It just happened so naturally. I was like, “Hey, I know what I’m doing now.” And so I just started holding like little free clinics just for fun. Like, just because I wanted to. No one asked me to.

Kris Plachy: Well, it’s one of the best ways to learn, is to teach it.

Erica Tingey: Yeah. I don’t even know what I taught. And I’m kind of horrified at what I taught.

Kris Plachy: Like, somebody, show you this. I don’t know what I’m doing.

Erica Tingey: Yeah, I know what I’m doing. And I would like teach huge groups. I’d be like, “Here…” Anyway, people had trust in me. But I was continually coached on skills. I mean, I was coached in multiple ways throughout my racing career, but really, the skills part was like really touched me in a really special way. I think because it was so hard for me and I had to really think about it. The fitness, my other coach would give me a workout, I would do it and it worked. There was just like, no thought basically, I can just happen.

Near the end of my career, which I didn’t even know it was near the end of my career. I decided to sort of formalize a couple of, we call them clinics. So, like a one-day session is a clinic. So I formalized it in 2016. And I gave it a name. I was still racing, but I gave it a name. I named it Women in the Mountains. I gave it a website and a logo. And one again, I don’t even know what I was totally thinking. I was like, “I’m going to hold this event and I’m going to give it a name and a logo and a website.”

But I really thought it was a one-day thing or like a one weekend. And it went really, really well. And the eight women who attended were like, “This is so cool. Will you do this for my friends.” And so I held it for their friends that summer, I held like two or three more events that summer. And then the next summer, I’m like, “Well, I may as well put out like four or five dates.” And so I did in 2017, I probably put that put out, I don’t know, four or five, six dates. And then, I think 2017 is the year I became certified as a mountain bike coach. And that was like, really eye opening. I had no idea that there was a whole world of…

Kris Plachy: Right? That’s the thing. I love your story, because I think so many of us can relate to this, right? When you naturally follow your passion and your interest, it sort of… I say this to my kids a lot, too, because a lot of people always just want to know what the result’s going to be. And what am I going to do? How am I going to get there? And I think the only way you figure that out is you walk the path, right? So you just kept walking the path. And then it was like, “Oh, there’s a thing. I didn’t know that was a thing.” And then you open that door, and you follow that path. So you got certified as a mountain bike coach, and then what?

Erica Tingey: And then I had a couple of friends approached me and say, “Hey, can I work for you?” And I was like, “Okay, yeah, let’s work together.” It became even more formal. And I had friends working for me. So, we were friends that were like, kind of doing this together. And then I kind of collected a few more friends. And then it got a little bit messy. And then in steps Kris Plachy who helped me figure out…

Kris Plachy: I need help with organization...

Erica Tingey: This is not working, because it’s really truly my company. And I have a bunch of friends and we’re not…Yeah, it got to the point where we needed an organization, who one of your other clients, who I’m sure other people hear about all the time, Tina Sue. She’s your number one fan.

Kris Plachy: Somebody just joined the waitlist today and made a… I do this thing now when you join the waitlist, I make a video and then people who join the waitlist are invited to make a video to introduce themselves and then I reply, and she just said, “I just met Tina Sue over the weekend, and she said I have to do this program.” So yeah, Tina likes to say that she’s part of my remote business development team and she should be on staff.

Erica Tingey: Yeah, she’s out preaching Kris Plachy.

Kris Plachy: Yeah, we love her.

Erica Tingey: So, she’s like, “You have to do the program.” I didn’t even know what it was. She’s like, “You just have to do it”. I’m like, “Okay”. And I literally signed up like, one hour later. It was like midnight, the night that of “How to CEO,” began. I was lying in a hotel room in Austin and it was midnight, and I’m like, “I hope I get in.” And I just paid my money. And I got in. I really didn’t even know what it was. But Tina told me I needed it. I’m like, “Okay.”

Kris Plachy: Sort of back to what I was saying, you just kept following the path.

Erica Tingey: So, over the course of 2021, and through the “How to CEO” program, I really created a structure in my business. And I became the CEO of Women in the Mountains for the first time.

Kris Plachy: Instead of Women in the Mountains being like a job, or a place where a bunch of friends hang out, or cool retreats or experiences we create for women. Now, it’s like, its own entity. And you’re the custodian of that as the CEO, which is so fun, yeah.

Erica Tingey: Which was really great to reflect on, even just yesterday, I’m like, it’s its own entity. And so when it has its own problems, I start to think that they’re mine, and I’m like “Actually, no, I don’t need to take them on personally.” And I do a lot of the times when like they’re actually outside of me, because now it’s this company over here, and I’m my own life inside of me. It is nice, because I really start to believe that it is me, Women in the Mountains is me, but it’s not. And creating the structure helped it get outside of my head. So, yeah, now I have a vision and values and a vibe, like our team vibe. There are job descriptions. These are things I never thought to do, like they’re just in my mind. But a year ago, it was really painful to sit down and type them out. And I am forever grateful that that work has been done.

Kris Plachy: Think about all of this tediousness, it is awful. And I say it all the time. That’s not sexy, job descriptions, not sexy. However, your future self—because I was just looking to fill a position in my company and I was like, “Oh my god, I already wrote that.” Like, it’s so done. I’m so happy with myself. So, it is good news. What is your vision?

Erica Tingey: My vision is the power of a woman confident on her bike is undeniable and far-reaching in the world.

Kris Plachy: Wow. I want to ask you about that. So, you know, because you listen to the podcast, right? My daughter is a pretty elite athlete herself. And I’m really intrigued about why you went… and you’ve been a little modest, you’re a world champion mountain biker. If you guys could see her face. But I like people to take responsibility and just own that. But what I love about what you said, is that, “I was naturally good, but I had to work hard at the skill.” And I see an equation there or a parallel between a lot of women that I coach, because a lot of women are naturally good at selling. They’re naturally good at generating revenue, Like, “Ooh, yeah, come over here and pay money, I’ll give you the thing.” But they’re not naturally good at managing and leading. And what I liked about how your brain works, at least the way that you explained it is, you didn’t think, “Well, that means I can’t be a world champion, mountain biker,” you thought, “Oh, I can learn that. I just have to work at it. And I have to go through what’s difficult to do that.”

Whereas a lot of people who I think run companies, they make this other decision that’s like somehow there’s something wrong with them, that they don’t know how to manage people. They don’t know how to lead a team. They don’t know how to choral resources and get things done. That somehow you supposed to be just good at that, when we all know that’s not true. Because you have to learn it, just like you do learning the downhill. You’re good at the uphill because you’re really strong and fit. But the downhill takes more finesse, that’s what I’m guessing.

Erica Tingey: Yeah, exactly.

Kris Plachy: Yeah. So, when you watch women come through your clinic, what is it that you see happen? So, the moment they come, women sign up—and I’m assuming a lot of the women who sign up are pretty amateur at mountain biking, right? They’re not seasoned.

Erica Tingey: Oh, yeah.

Kris Plachy: So, what do you see that journey is for them?

Erica Tingey: Well, I see a lot of women come to me very, very nervous, like, very, very scared. And they’re scared… it’s like an actual fear of getting hurt. They’re not just afraid of someone seeing them look dumb, maybe, like they’re afraid of getting hurt. They’re also afraid of looking dumb. And then when they find out that if they just follow these small steps that I teach them, like step by step by step, and then all of a sudden, do this thing that looks literally impossible 90 minutes before. And it just opens up, like, they open up. They’re like, “Oh, my gosh, I can do that? I can ride up a curve? I’ve watched curves my entire life. I thought curves are the scariest thing in the whole wide world. What else is possible?” That’s kind of the progression that happens. They show up so scared, I teach them these things, they’re nervous through the learning, and then they ride the thing. And they’re like, “Well, if I can do that, what’s next?”

I have a handful of stories of women who it’s literally changed their entire life. Like they mountain bike, and then they go home, they’re like, “Well, maybe I can get a job, maybe I can get married or leave a marriage.” It kind of gives them this opening up. People become more fit, or they dare ride by themselves. A lot of women come to me, but they don’t dare go out on the trail by themselves and all of a sudden, dare go ride a mountain bike trail by themselves. Like, to me, it’s no big deal. I’ve ridden every trail. I love riding alone. But for some people, that’s really scary. But once they do that, they feel so powerful, they ride the mountains alone? What? That’s why part of my vision is that it’s far reaching into the world. Once I give them the party and the component and they like it, it helps them literally go further in the world.

Kris Plachy: Whoa, that’s really well said. I love that. And I see that, too. I see that in myself. And I see that in other people. And it’s like how you do one thing is how you do everything. And as soon as you realize that you can conquer, in your case, this real physical—mountain biking is real, I can’t imagine I will ever… it would be really funny if I did.

Erica Tingey: I’m coming out there to teach you.

Kris Plachy: Okay, I’ll do it with you on like a dirt trail with no hill, but mastering that, gives us such a sense of emotional strength as well as physical strength. And I think for all of us, especially these last couple years, I’m curious what your thoughts are about this, right? We’ve had so many challenges that we’ve all had to be negotiating even quietly, just constantly making decisions, and not sure what the right decisions are to make, both in business and in our personal lives. But I think there’s a lot of us as women, especially who are a little overwhelmed when it comes to making decisions right now. And also, the power of reminding women of how powerful it is once you lock in and choose, “I’m going to do this, I’m going to prove to myself I can do this” and what you come out as on the other side. Anything that’s hard, and that can be different for all of us. But I think what I love about what you do, is that you remind women that if you’re willing to learn, you can. You can take a lesson, you can choose to learn and then you come out on the other side a totally different level of yourself outside of where you were, right? I’m kind of rambling, but...

Erica Tingey: No, I totally agree.

Kris Plachy: Yeah, I love it. I just love businesses like yours that feed into the soul of the collective of women in general. So, good stuff.

Erica Tingey: You mentioned something about these last few years, and I just wanted to say last year two people shared with me that mountain biking helped them stop drinking. During 2020, they really started drinking and then someone was like, “Hey, let’s mountain bike” and it helped them. And that’s the two who shared with me. I’m sure there’s others who… but mountain biking has actually helped, I know at least two people, I guarantee more but…

Kris Plachy: They need something to do. The thing about the pandemic is, it’s just been buffering everywhere. So, why not buffer with a mountain bike instead of a glass of wine? That’s much more healthy option, especially if you bike on the really steep. Yeah, so my next question is… I’m calling this like a spill the tea, right? CEOs are going to spill the tea. So, you’ve had a baby, I’ve had several. The reason I said it this way is I remember when I was pregnant and everybody is always, it’s all so glamorous, and so fun. And so like, “Oh, you’re going to have a baby.” And then there’s all this stuff that no one ever told you. You are, like, “Seriously? Was nobody going to tell me that this actually is what happens.” because nobody tells you. it’s like this code.

So, I feel like there might be a little bit of code for people, for women who run businesses, right? Like, “Oh, yeah, you start a company, it would be amazing.” And then they do and they’re like, really? Was anybody going to tell me this part?” So, I’m curious, what’s the truth that you think everybody might know that they don’t really talk about?

Erica Tingey: Well, I love that you just brought this up parallel to motherhood, because I feel like I’m going through this with my teenage son and everything that I thought about – spilling the tea – my business applies to my teenage son, but…

Kris Plachy: Amen. Mama, I’m with you. I’ve gone through… I’m still in the phase of two 17-year-olds, but yeah, amen.

Erica Tingey: Well, number one is running my own business is scary. And almost every single day, I want to quit, and I want to hide…

Kris Plachy: I think that is a huge one. First of all, people think that we are making $100 million a year. I think that everybody thinks that there’s a point where you get where you’re like, someday I’m going to not want to quit every day, right?

Erica Tingey: I think that there are people who don’t want to quit every day. There’s got to be somewhere.

Kris Plachy: Maybe not every day, but probably at least once a week.

Erica Tingey: Yeah, that’s good to know.

This is so scary. I just want to quit. But I also have been thinking about my son and I just want to be done. I love him. It’s so hard. Can I just quit? Can someone else take over at this point?

Kris Plachy: Well, that’s why I do the retreats and why I’m like, “You could quit for a week.”

Erica Tingey: Yeah, because it’s like…Like, you love them. You love your business. You love your child, but I want to hide. When they’re talking back, or you have an employee that you’re just like, “Why did you just say that to me? Why do I have to deal with this again?”

Kris Plachy: Yeah. One of the decisions that you have to deal with like, “Oh, no. Are you serious?” Or the call from the school or the whatever. Like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, you are mistaken, I’m not the one you’re supposed to call. There must be a better adult around.

Erica Tingey: Okay, so that was my other thought. It’s like, I keep thinking that an adult is going to show up and help me do this, at some point. An adult is going to show up and either just take over or show me how to do it. And they haven’t showed up yet. With my son or with my business, I’m just so surprised that no one showed up to tell me I have to stop or like, “Oh, here’s a better way of doing it.” I mean, of course I have mentors like you who comes in and be like, do it this way. You are out there on your own figuring it out day by day, and it is really scary. And I want to hide a lot of days. I really, really do and then I’m like, “This is not the day. We just keep on going.”

Kris Plachy: Today is not the day. And I love your honesty here. I think a lot of women relate. And again, I feel like this is one of those things that we talk a lot about in How to CEO. I think that’s why people like it, is there’s a place to come and be like, “Am I the only person who thinks they should…” I always say, “Go work at the Clinique counter?”

Erica Tingey: Or just say Wells Fargo, I’ll just go be a teller at Wells Fargo.

Kris Plachy: We all have out fall back. Why not?

Erica Tingey: Clinique sounds more fun, though, maybe I’ll start saying that one.

Kris Plachy: I’ve always said the Clinique counter at Nordstrom. I don’t even know if there is a Clinique counter in Nordstrom anymore, but I think in the 80s. But I do think one of the real truths here that I love that you brought up is that we want someone else, we want the adult to come in and take over. And that hope, that desire is what drives a lot of women to hire people, and then abdicate to them. “Oh, thank goodness, the real finance person’s here, and they know what to do. Thank goodness, the real operations person is here, and they know what to do.” And then we abdicate, thinking, “They know more than I do.”

And then we end up with a mess in our business, right? So, that’s why it’s like standing in your CEO role, taking responsibility for the results, taking responsibility for the vision and the direction of the business. You may not be doing all the weeds things, right? But you’re still overseeing it. And to your point, that is the one that you’re like, “Wait, but I don’t even know what an operations person is supposed to do.”
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Right.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: You know your business. And so, as long as we stay in that knowing, we could figure all this other stuff out, but that little slippery thought, like, “there’s other people who can do this better than I can?” Create a little bit messes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yeah, that is a slippery thought, it’s true.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: It is, and it’s very tempting, in so many ways. There’s a lot of decisions that we find that are very exhausting to have to keep making, and so, it’s just very tempting to just say, “I don’t know, do whatever you want.” And then they do whatever they want in your own company, and that’s a problem.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: That’s so true, and it’s really thinking of a situation right now, and it’s like, I’ve been wanting to just be like, do whatever, I don’t care, but you know what? Yeah, it’s going to create a disaster if I…</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Yeah, don’t do that.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: …Don’t rein it in.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Rein it in, and give them responsibility for the result, but you’ve got to make sure you have oversight on the direction. So, that might lead into my next question, but what do you find has been the hardest time about really building a team?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I find that it’s like… I think I have everything settled, and everyone’s in a good position, and then something else pops up. Like one person has an issue, and we work through it, and then we have like a good week or so. And I think everything’s going to be good from now on, and then someone presents with another issue. And so, it’s kind of what I was saying earlier, like I have to separate out my emotional life from the emotional life of the business. Because it’s never just good for weeks and weeks, and months, and months. Humans are just messy. I like to just say #humans, like sometimes my husband will say, “How was your day?” And I’ll just say, #humans or #humans are hard. And then he just knows. We don’t go any further than that. They’re just humans, and they’re messy, and you can’t build the perfect team. People are just humans.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Dynamic, so dynamic. I wrote down while you were talking, I’m probably going to write this. It’s like the weather, right?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: It’s like we have team weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I love that. That’s a great way of describing it. It’s sunny. You think it’s going to be sunny for the rest of the year, but it’s not.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: No, tomorrow there’s a thunderstorm and lightning and a tree burns down. And then the next day, it won’t…you live in Utah, right? You could have snow, and then rain, and then sun, all in one day, right? You all in the…That mountain weather is weird, right? Or a squall comes blowing through, and it’s 60 miles an hour, and then it’s gone, right? I don’t know. So yeah, there’s the weather, and the part that, I… I’m so glad you brought it up, because I know this is really relevant. The part that is the hardest about that, is you keep arguing, not you, but you, collectively. We keep arguing that somehow, we shouldn’t have to deal with these things, just like somehow, we shouldn’t have to deal with the weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Right.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: But that’s part of being a human, is weather and people weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: You know what? That’s what I’m going to start calling it, just people whether, they’re just people having weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: It’s just weather, and you know what? What we want to do and create as a business, is gear for the weather, right? Which I’m loving this metaphor. The way that we create gear for weather, is we create systems that manage different forms of team weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Yes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Right? Like you have gear, so if you’re going to go ride your bike in the mud, versus the rain, versus the snow, versus the wind, or cold versus hot, you have different gear you arm yourself with, right? You don’t argue with the weather, you prepare for the weapon.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Right. We don’t do that with our systems.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yes, and process good news, right?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Right.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: But that will never stop, right? I mean, I’ve been running teams for 27 years, and I can think I have the best team on the planet, which in the moment, I do. And then all of a sudden, I don’t. Interesting, right? It’s not about your experience, it’s not about how capable you are, it’s not about how wonderful the leader you are or not, it genuinely just is when you decide to be in the business of working with other people, you’re a weather.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Yeah, and the people change, they move in and out.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: They do, just like clouds.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Yes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I love that.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: I’m doing like a whole stream of consciousness. I can write about it. I love it. Yeah, thank you for that, that was perfect. What has been an unexpected delight for you?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Okay, so I think for me, what’s cool is, if I were to go back to my childhood, my expectations for myself as an adult were just to be a mom and have babies, and it was really truly, truly never to work. I was just brought up in a world of women that didn’t work. Then at some point I think I had this idea that I would work, and it was probably to be a secretary, because that was the word we used growing up. And like, I wanted to be a secretary, and have a little typewriter, and like all the little organization thing.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Play office, yeah.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Play office. I did. I played office.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Me too.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yeah, but to become a CEO is so delightful, to be able to be in a room and say, I own a business, I’m a CEO, I’m a female CEO, I’m a female business owner. It’s so delightful and so cool. For me, it brings a lot of power, and I love power, because I’m a powerful athlete, and I love feeling powerful. And that’s why I’m attracted to people like Brooke and like you, and like the really powerful coach, because I love powerful women. And I love that I’ve become a powerful woman.</p>
<p lang="en-US">And so, I think that’s what’s delightful about it. And I think along with being powerful, you can also be beautiful and clean and classy, and it’s just all so delightful. So to bring it back to delightful, you can be all the things, you can be powerful and beautiful, and classy, and fun, and…So, that’s what’s been a delight for me, that I get to be all the things.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: I love that. Yeah, that’s beautiful, really. And I think what’s so lovely about working with and talking to women who are athletes is, there’s so much emphasis on physical strength in athleticism, right? And what we know too is your brain is equally important in your success as an athlete, right? And so, when you come into business, there’s a parallel to me, there’s business acumen, which I liken to athletic strength. I think some people have a little more tendency to just get business more than others. And then there’s the skill, though, and the mindset that you have to do to really step into the mindset of a CEO, a woman who has this business, who claims her space, who says, I built this, I did this, this is mine. And you’re proud of it. In it outside of just, yeah, I built this business, and it makes money. There’s really that stepping into that voice, which I love watching in you also. I mean, you and I have known each other a while now, it’s been super fun to watch that.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I agree.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: So, I guess I’ll ask you my very last question, which is do you believe in magic in your business?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yes, and actually, it goes perfectly with your previous question, which is like, I think there’s a magic to being able to be a mountain biker and be beautiful. Be able to get dirty, and then drive a nice car.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Lots of towels in the trunk.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yes, spend the day in the mountains, and then come home and put on classy clothes. For me, that’s where the magic is, and that’s actually what I… I remember my first year of really racing mountain biking, and there were a few girls who retired my second-year mountain biking, who were so pretty. And they would show up dressed really beautifully, and race really, really hard, they were amazing, and I was like that. That’s the magic that I wanted to bring, and then there were the girls who showed up dirty, and they were always dirty, and they didn’t really necessarily wash their clothes, and they’re still kind of dirty to this day.</p>
<p lang="en-US">And I’m like… And that’s where for me the magic is, is can I love being beautiful and having really nice things, and then being a super bad-ass mountain biker? You know what go off, really big drops, and ridding the mud, and then just also living a really beautiful life. So, for me, that’s magic, because I think it’s this fun juxtaposition, because probably 15, 20 years ago, everyone thought mountain bikers were dirty, and they’re not.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: I think you could take that one a step further, I think everyone thought female athletes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yes.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: We’re not beautiful and graceful, and could clean. There’s just been this stereotype, my daughter and I’ve talked about this, we just talked about this. She’s been a tomboy her whole life, but she loves to be feminine in her life, right? She loves clothes and perfume, just all the things, and her nails. But that’s new, because I know when I… I think you and I are relatively close contemporaries, and I do think that’s been quite an evolution, and women like you are really leading that, and I love it, I love that the message is, be whoever the hell you want.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yeah, I put on mascara every morning, even when I go to ride my bike, when I go to ski. I used to race in earrings. I don’t like the feeling of earrings anymore, I wish I did, because it’d be really cool.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: No, I stopped wearing earrings myself a while ago, and I don’t even know why. And now when I put them in, I’m like, “Oh, they feel weird.” I like a good jewelry, but not…</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: They bug me, but the point is yes, like being a beautiful athlete, I think you can be beautiful and be an athlete. And that’s where I think it’s magical. You can be strong and powerful. You can be a keeper, like your daughter, and then come home and be gorgeous. Or be gorgeous on the field, like why not? Why can’t we be gorgeous on the field? And that’s where I think it’s just magical, you can be all of it, and for me, maybe drive a really cool car. I love a really nice car, and really nice things, so…</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Well, you know what I think is so fun? The magic to me is, I listened to you also is, here you are, this woman who had a baby, who thought, I’m going to do this thing—for yourself, right? You started mountain biking for yourself. And now you have this business, and you help other women, I know there’s been so much that’s gone into that, but at the same time, why were you kissed with that idea? And then you translated that idea into an experience and a path for other people, and I think that’s pure magic, pure magic.</p>
<p lang="en-US">So, I love to remind women of that, because I think sometimes we get so caught up in our slog of the weather, right? And the challenges of the day, that we forget like, are you paying attention to your sitting in your office, or your desk, or wherever you are? Because something came into your brain and whispered to this, and you followed it. That is good news for everybody else. You don’t quit. You don’t give up.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: You don’t quit, and what you did 10 years ago lead you to where you are today, you don’t know what you’re doing today, where it’s going to lead you in 10 years. What I was doing even 5 years ago, I had no idea that it was going to bring me here.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Exactly.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: My race career, I had no idea it was going to bring me here, I could have never seen that in the middle of my race career. Even at the end, like none of it, like keep going day-by-day, just keep going, because you never know where it’s going to take you. But if I had just quit all of it, and gone to the Clinique counter, I wouldn’t have created this…</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Your skin, no.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I wouldn’t have nearly have all this skin damage that I have.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Exactly, the sun. You know, listen, you would have been inside, putting on moisturizers all day.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: How boring is that?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Listen, no disrespect to the Clinique counter, everything smells amazing, I love that. So anyway.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: I was just born to live outside and live in the mountains, like that’s just what… I was called up to the mountains, I was born in the mountain.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: That’s your place.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Yeah, that’s my place.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Well, is there anything else you would leave, any other last bits of wisdom for the listeners today?</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Anyone who has any challenges with their business, Kris Plachy is your person. I’m telling you. I know this is not…Kris did not ask me to say this. But I just feel so loved and supported in your program. And my CEO, “How to CEO” just really gave me the structures, and then being in the lab, I connected with women who I’m still friends with. They’re just really, really amazing women that inspire me, and are going through similar things. It’s just..Yeah, you’ve created something really, really special. So, thank you.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Well, thank you, I’m so glad that you found…We’ll say thank you to Tina.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: We’ll say thank you for Tina. We love Tina.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Kris Plachy: Shout out to Tina Sue! Successful couple of businesses, if you want to check her out on Instagram, she’ll love that I do that. So we’ll do that. Well, I really, really appreciate you being here, so thank you for taking the time today and sharing all of your life and experience, and your vulnerabilities, and just a lovely human, so I’m very grateful to know you as well. Thank you.</p>
<p lang="en-US">Erica Tingey: Thank you, Kris.</p>